Today, Amanda Martin, MP for Portsmouth North, has welcomed the Labour government’s reform to the children’s social care system, hailing it as a ‘landmark moment’.
The children’s social care system has been a major concern both for MPs and councils. The number of looked after children rising – up to 84,000 last year, from 75,000 the year before. With spending on looked after children which ballooning from £3.1 billion in 2009/10 to £7 billion in 2022/23, with Portsmouth forking out £4,904,307. A number of local authorities are on the brink of bankruptcy.
With a lack of homes for looked after children, councils have to look to private providers, often charging extortionate prices. There are now over 1,500 children in placements each costing over £0.5 million every year, while the largest 20 private providers make an average of 23 per cent profit.
Some children have been placed in unsafe, unregistered placements hundreds of miles from vital support networks. Such settings are illegal to run but Ofsted found 887 unregistered homes, up from 370 in 2022-23, meaning at least 1,000 children are in these settings.
Amanda claimed that she had heard these concerns first-hand from constituents when on the doorstep and at local surgeries.
The MP for Portsmouth North claimed the system had been subject to years of drift and neglect which had let children down, put councils at risk and provided bad value for taxpayers’ money.
Amanda pledged to back the government’s reforms and its wider mission to break down the barriers to opportunity for children in Portsmouth North.
Bridget Phillipson, Secretary of State for Education, said:
‘Our care system has suffered from years of drift and neglect. It’s bankrupting councils, letting families down, and above all, leaving too many children feeling forgotten, powerless and invisible.’
‘Labour wants to break down the barriers to opportunity and end the cycle of crisis through ambitious reforms to give vulnerable children the best life chances – because none of us thrive until all of us do.’
‘We will crack down on care providers making excessive profit, tackle unregistered and unsafe provision and ensure earlier intervention to keep families together and help children to thrive.’
Amanda Martin, MP for Portsmouth North, said:
‘I am so thrilled that in the first few months of taking office, this Labour government has made more progress on children’s social care than the Conservatives did in fourteen years.’
‘It is further evidence that this is a child-centred Labour government that is focused on breaking down barriers to opportunity for every child in Portsmouth.’
‘I’d like to congratulate campaigners in Portsmouth North that have pushed hard to see change in this area and assure them this government and I are on your side.’
